Werdau, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Saxony, on the Pleisse, in the industrial district of Zwickau, and 40 m. S. of Leipzig. Pop. (1905) 19,473. Its chief industries are cotton and wool-spinning and the weaving of cloth, but machinery of various kinds, paper and a few other articles are also manufactured. In addition to the usual schools, Werdau contains a weaving-school. The town is mentioned as early as 1304 and in 1398 it was purchased by the margrave of Meissen, who afterwards became elector of Saxony.
See Stichard, Chronik der Fabrikstadt Werdau (2nd ed., Werdau, 1865).
